Speed-controlling device for vehicles



G. HORVATH.

SPEED coNTHoLUNG DEVICE EoR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I5, 1919.

Patented May MI, 1921 Clt SPEED-CDNTRQLLING DEVECE FOR VEHIIICF'LIES.

Specieation. of Letters Patent.

Patented May Ml, 9211 Application led December 15, 1919. Serial No. tels.

To all whom it may concern: I Be it known that l, GEZA Honva'rrr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Highland Park, in the county of Wayne and State v of Michigan, have invented certain newjand useful improvements in Speed-Controlling Devices for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

vrl`his invention relates to the fuel supply system of an internal combustion engine, and has special reference to a carbureter and appurtenant parts which permit of an engine being accelerated and the speed oi the engine controlling automatically the supply of fuel thereto, to the most economical point under various speed and load conditions.

My invention aims to Jfurnish a carburetor with a valvular fuel feed member that may be easily adjusted to increase the supply of fuel to the carburetor, so that the engine will be accelerated and simultaneous with the adjustment of the valvular seat member an indicator will be actuated to indicate `the condition or" the explosive mixture being supplied to an engine, tor instance, whether the mixture is lean or rich.

My invention further aims to provide a carbureter with a governor actuated valvular member which is adapted to prevent excessive speeding of the engine, and, through the medium ot an indicator, show the speed et the engine.

My invention further aims to provide mechanism that may be advantageously associated with an internal combustion engine of any type, but especially forming the power plant of an automobile or similar ve-l hicle, so that greater eliiciency may be obtained from the engine with a minimum eX- penditure of fuel, because the fuel supply is automatically increased or decreased to the most efi'icient point under various load and speed conditions.

My invention will be hereinafter considered and then claimed and reference will now be had to the drawing, wherein- Figure l' is an end elevation of an internal combustion engine, partly broken away and more or less diagrammatic, showing a carbureter and associated parts relative to the engine, the carbureter being in section and' the mechanism partly broken away, and

Fig. 2 is a trent elevation of an indicator forming part of the mechanism.

lin the drawing, the reference numeral. l

denotes an internal combustion engine having an intake manifold 2. and suitably connected to said intake manifold is the upper curved or elbow end 3 of a carbureter body il, said carbureter having an air intake connection 5 and a float chamber 6. ln the curved or elbow end 3 of the earbureter body l is the usual throttle 51 and adapted to adjust the throttle is a exible member 52 which will be hereinafter considered. rEhe ioat chamber 6 is of a conventional form having an offset portion 7 adapted to receive liquid fuel from a tank or other source (not shown). ln the oi'set portion 7 of the float chamber 6 is a valve 8 actuated by a oat 9 within the chamber 6 to maintain a constant level of fuel within the chamber, said iloat and valve being of the ordinary type.

The carbureter body 4 is provided with a depending sleeve 10 having a spiral slot 11 and rotatable and slidable in said sleeve is a valvular member 12 having a pin 13 extending into the spiral slot 11, so that the valvular member l2 will be raised and lowered in the sleeve 10 when said valvular member is partially rotated. The valvular member 12 has its annular groove and transverse passage 14 communicating with a passage 15 leading to the Heat chamber 6 and axially ot 4 the valvular member 12 is a passage 16 leading to a valve seat 17 in the upper end of the valvular member 12, the passages 15, 14 and 16 admitting liquid fuel from the iioat chamber 6 to the carbureter body 1i.

@n the lower end oli the valvular member -12 is a pinion 18 meshing with a rack 19 slidable in a bearing bracket 20 connected to the crank case ot the engine 1 or suitably at-- tached to any support in proximity thereto. The rack 19 is normally held in a retracted position by the retractile torce of a spring 21 connected to said rack and said rack may be shifted by a rod 22 connected to a treadle or lever 23, which when actuated is adapted to partially rotate and raise or lower the valvular member .12. rl`he treadle or lever 23 is connected to the flexible member 52 so that the accelerator treadle may adjust the throttle, as is the usual practice.

rl`he rack 19 also meshes with a pinion 24 at the lower end of a exible shaft 25 supported by the bracket bearing 20, said flexible shaft extending to an indicator 26 where it is ada )ted to impart movement to a pointer 2 in front of a dial 28 calibrated to indicate the extent of vaporized fuel or an explosive mixture supplied by a carburetor. Adjustable in the elbow connection 3 of the carburetor body 4 is a valve rod 29 hav- .ing a valve movable to and from the seat 17 of the valvular member 12, said valve rod having the threaded portion 31 in engagement with the elbow connection 3 of the carbureter body 4A and at the upper end ot said valve rod is a handle 32 which permits of said valve rod being manually adjusted.

Frictionally held on the valve rod 29 and adapted to rotate said valve rod is a pinion 33 meshing with a rack 34- slidable in a bracket bearing 35 carried by the engine 1. The inner end of the rack 3a is lined to a governor spool 36 slidable on a shaft 37 with a governor bracket t() and pivotally connected to said governor bracketl are governor arms d1 engaging the spool 36, said governorv arms being connected by a coiled retractile spring 42 adapted to restore said arms to normal position after vhaving beenl actuated by centrifugal force. Y

llvleshing with the gear wheel 39 is a gear wheel, Zi3 Amounted on a shaft 44 journaled in the bracket 33 and a bracket 45 at the torward end et the engine 1. The shatt'l-l is adapted to be driven by a sprocket chain 46 or other power transmission device from a driven shalt l? of the engine 1.

lvleshing with the rack 34 is a pinion Li3 carried by a tlexible shaft 49 supported by the bracket bearing 35, said `flexible shalt extending to the indicator 26 to operate a pointer 50 movable in afront ot the dial 28 ott said indicator, said dial being calibrated to indicate the revolutions permitted ot the main engine shaft.

Since the valve rod 29 may be manually adjusted relative to the pinion 33, it ispossible to set the valve 30 relative to the valvular member 12 so that there will be a predetermined passage for fuel from the valvular member l2 into the body of the carburetor to commingle with air admitted at the connection 5 and provide an explosive mixture. The passage between the valvular member 12 and the valve 30 may be such as to admit a suliicient quantity of fuel Afor engine idling purposes. Then, if it is desired to accelerate the engine, it is only necessary to press upon the treadle 23 when the valvular member 12 Will be rotated and lowered relative to the valve 30, thereby increasing the area of the passage so that a greater quantity of fuel will be admitted to the carburetor body for vaporizing purposes. The additional fuel willincrease the speed of the engine and the accelerator may be used either when warming up, starting or when encountering grades or rough sections ,of road.v The volume or quantity of fuel may be determined by obremesa serving the indicator 26 and the accelerator may be used to provide a rich or lea-n mixture as desired.

To prevent excessive speed of the engine, the valve 30 is placed under control ot' the governor operated from the drive shaft 47 of the engine, and when the speed or" the engine is above normal the centrifugal torce of the governor causes the rack 3 4 to be shifted and the valve 3() lowered to constrict the passage between said valve and the valvular member 12, thereby reduding the supply ot fuel to the carbureter until the engine obtains normal. speed as will show by the indicator 23.

ln order that the operation of my device may be fully understood, I will assume that my automobile is standing still with the engine idling by reason of the throttle being partly open, as shown in Fig. 1, and the val-l vular member in spaced relation admitting sufficient 'luel to 'sustain the engine at idling. On starting my engine l press on the treadle 23 to accelerate the engine by lowering the valvular member 12 relative to the valve 30, admitting a greater quantity ot "fuel with the throttle open. lt is obvious that the engine will immediately pick up its speed and the governor will be effected by having its governor arms separated thereby causing the valve 30 to be lowered. This will take place even though the accelerator is released, thus allowing the engine to operate with a greater volume ofexplosive mixture, which is not as rich as when the accelerator was initially operated. l't is now apparent that the valve 30, in controlling the fuel, accomplishes the reverse of the accelerator, that is, the valve 30 reduces the supply of tual whereas the accelerator is adapted to increase the supply. Further assuming that I am traveling on ay level road and encounter a grad-e, it is obvious that the engine has a greater duty to perform, and consequently the governor is actuated to open the. valve 30 and admit more fuel, so that the eXploslve mixture will be richer kwhile the greater load is on the engine, but immediately 4upon the grade being ascended the load on the engine is reduced and conse- .quently the speed, so that the valve 3() isA lowered to decrease the supply of vfuel and consequently the richness thereof, thereby restoring the engine to normal fuel condition.

Supposing that a hill has been ascended and` therewis a descent, it is apparent that the load on the engine is reduced .with the governor causing the valve 30 to be closed and produce-a very lean explosive mixture. Such condition will exist until the automo-A bile reaches a level or another grade, when the accelerator may be used should it be desired to increase the speed ot the engine. Under all conditions the governor actuated valve 30 is automatic in controlling the supterasse ply of fuel, and after an operator has once determined the best operating conditions for his automobile, it is easy to determine by the indicator when such conditions do not exist thus Warning the operator that something is Wrong with his machine or the fuel. lt is now apparent that the device possesses .""tell-tale7l` features that will permit of an operator checking up on the condition of the automobile compared to the best operating conditions obtained, and in my companion application, tiled under even date l show an indicator that may be advantageously used in connection With a device of this kind.

It is thought that the operation and utility of `the present invention Will be apparent Without further description, and lf would have it understood that the structural elements are susceptible to such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

That I claim is l. The combination of a carbureter body, a rotatable and slidable valvular member in said carbureter body adapted to admit fuel thereto, means adapted to adjust said valvular member, an adjustable valve in said carbureter body movable to and from said valvular member, a governor actuated means for adjusting said valve, and means adapted to indicate adjustment of said valve and valvular member.

2. The combination of a carbureter having an adjustable valvular seat member, a rack and pinion for adjusting said valvular seat member, a valve movable to and from said valvular seat member, a rack and pinion for adjusting said valve, and indicating means operated from said rack.

3. The combination of a carbureter body, a rotatable and slida-ble valvular member in said body adapted to admit fuel thereto, a rack and pinion adapted to rotate said valvular member, treadle means adapted for shifting said rack, and indicating means operated from said rack.

4. The combination of an engine having a carbureter, valvular members inthe carbureter adjustable to and from each other and independent of each other, manually actu.- ated means for moving and holding one of said valvular members to increase the speed of the engine by producing a rich fuel mixture, and an engine operated governor for moving the other member inv proportion to the speed of the engine, said governor operated member being fu'rther moved by excessive speed toward the first mentioned valvular member to produce a lean fuel mixture and a consequent reduction in speed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two-Witnesses.

GEZA HORVTH. llitnesses KARL H. BUTLER, ANNA M. DoRR. 

